Milk Cartons

The thing is...in the middle of Reichert's and Matt's relationship is one VERY big thing that could not possibly be skipped or glossed over. It was actually something I've wanted to try to portray for a long time but never had the reason or opportunity. Seeing as I could not write the story without it, into the plot it went, and took things over since that's what it did with Reichert's life. It takes quite a bit to get to this Very Big Thing that happens in the story, but you've probably already guessed what it is.

Then I found I could not finish the story without writing the followup, or rather the fallout, of this Very Big Thing, because I knew that was a big part of the relationship later on. If I left it out, I'd just be cutting things off in the middle with no resolution. So that had to be written too. And I decided, finally, to include the very end of the relationship, which takes place quite a while after the Very Big Thing, after the unwritten novelMagic City, in fact, in which Reichert, after failing to talk down a suicide jumper from a building, is nearly ordered back to his desk, but then receives a case file revealing that similar things have been happening elsewhere, in particular Minot, North Dakota, where my characters Det. Max Kristeva, Det. Chance Devetko, and Lt. Alan Kincaid work. Rather wanting a break from New York, Reichert agrees to check it out, and drives a rental car all the way there (because, well...you know, airplanes). He finally returns from that trip, and what follows will be explained near the end of this story. And that's the end of the story of Reichert and Matt...for now. (I rather think Matt is the only thing that could steer Reichert off his current course of self-destruction, if only they were in the same time zone, so keep your eyes open-he might be making a comeback.)

The number of F-bombs in the story bugs me-I view excessive use of the word to be a sign of ignorance-but this is the way Reichert ended up talking when I wrote him up. I always thought he was rather polite and restrained; I never knew he was so foulmouthed before now. Weird. He continues to surprise me. Strangely, since starting this story most of my other characters have started cussing like crazy, too! I think I may have finally come to understand the difference between PG-13 and R-rated writing-F-bombs. Lots and lots of F-bombs.

A final thing. The weird title? It suggested itself to me well through the story when Reichert makes a particular observation. I fought against using it as the title, because the "Milk Cartons" are not the center of the entire story, despite being a main part of it. However, the name stuck in my head and nothing better took its place. And I guess the Milk Cartons in question are important enough to warrant being the title of the piece. Plus, I thought it was rather unexpected and a bit more abstruse than I'm used to being. A bonus is that milk cartons evoke the image of missing people, which is part of the theme of the story. So, "Milk Cartons" it is. Although weird, I think it's a rather obvious title if you know what the story is about; if you haven't figured it out, you will soon enough.

Fun fact: For Reichert's description of what he thought he was seeing on TV that morning, I needed to reference a movie. My first choice wasDie Hard as I'd mistakenly believed it took place in New York; hence Reichert's "There's no Bruce Willis" comment. Fortunately I Googled it and at Wikipedia found out my mistake (it takes place in Los Angeles), but I still needed a movie that corresponded with events. I spent quite a while browsing various disaster movie summaries at Wikipedia until I finally discovered thatArmageddon would fit the bill just nicely. (I can't remember that scene from the movie myself, but at Google I found a screencap of New York City that's really, really creepy in light of the Very Big Thing.) I hated that I would have to get rid of the "There's no Bruce Willis" line, probably to replace it with "There's no Ben Affleck." Then I recalled that Bruce Willis is inArmageddon, too! So the line stayed.

Fun opinion: I think my favorite line out of the entire story must be "Giant fucking mirrors!" (Reichert's terribly tasteless "Two big nice empty places" comment, which was actually added a bit later on, ranks highly too.)

The majority of this story was pounded out in a matter of a few days in September 2011, as I planned to have it posted online by a particular day; I didn't make the deadline in finishing it (the final scene remained unfinished for a few months), but here it is at last, complete. I hope the likely slews of inaccuracies (see disclaimers) don't detract too much from enjoying the story, if possible. This is one of the most ambitious non-serial items I've ever written so I hope SOMEBODY enjoys it.

PERSONAL DISCLAIMERS: If I had this story to start writing again, I probably would start it in a manner that makes it sound less like just a smut piece and more like an actual story with plot; but seeing as it started out as a mere smut piece, that's how it starts out.

In this piece there is plenty of "showing," but with a story covering such a long period of time, there is also plenty of "telling," which I hope doesn't come across as boring. My biggest concern, however, is accuracy, or rather, inaccuracy. I've never been to New York. I'm a lazy researcher, relying primarily on well-known facts, a few smaller checked facts (hello, Google; hello, Wikipedia), and a LOT, LOT, LOT of artistic license. The same holds here, only more so, since of course the Very Big Thing is a well-known and widely described historic event. My intent in writing stories is to set a mood or entertain, not to be 100% historically/culturally/regionally accurate, hence why I specialize in fantasy set in worlds of my own creation, where I can't easily get things "wrong." New York City is not my creation (neither is Minot, for that matter!), so I'm leery of sharing my very inaccurate personal version of it; I hope the story itself can make up for the slew of inaccuracies and just plain wrongs I'm betting are in here.

In particular, descriptions of places, and the span of time it takes certain events to happen (e. g., the appearance of the missing posters), niggle at me. Oh, as well as the news details that come out regarding Reichert after the Very Big Thing. Dunno how realistic it all is. Probably isn't. But as Reichert himself says at some point in the story, some things that happen are just so unbelievable you think you must be either watching a movie or dreaming.

I'm not positive about Reichert's given height. (His weight isn't given for the reason that I'm no good at estimating the proper weight of my characters.) All I can tell you for sure is he's taller than most of my police characters.

Also, yes, him driving his own car around is kind of odd, but that was how I originally wrote him getting to and from the bar, so...*shrug.* No clue where he parks it, though. It only just occurred to me that when he leaves the city, he uses a rental car! So I've had to work in an explanation for that discrepancy. *oops*

I'm unsure about Tim Reichert's exact age and how it fits into the timeline; he was supposed to be a young teenager here, but now I'm not sure.

Sad to say, I have no idea how cell phones work as I've never used one (yes, you read that right), so my depiction of that rather mundane activity could be off.

I remember seeing in a documentary, I think, that the power went out in Manhattan later in the evening, but I'm not sure how widespread that was or if it would affect the characters' establishments or not.

Lastly, Reichert's glasses-a big, BIG artistic license. Later in the storyline he seems to wear them more for matters of light sensitivity, possibly due to what he went through; nowhere in any of my writing do I refer to him having any sort of vision problems. So he probably shouldn't have them at least until after the Very Big Thing. This is a detail I haven't figured out yet.

I'll point out right now that Reichert himself making it through the Very Big Thing is probably the biggest artistic license in the story, and I'm already aware of that; I always have been. This is fiction.